It’s understood the offer from Sky was deemed to be too low to justify the likely public outrage that would follow taking the Six Nations off free-to-air television, while it seems BT didn’t enter the contest.

The Sky package was trumped by the combined terrestrial bid, with World Cup broadcasters ITV coming on board with the BBC, who have covered the Championship for decades.

Labour’s shadow sports minister Clive Efford has reacted positively to reports of the new TV deal.“I welcome the BBC and ITV working together to ensure Six Nations stays on free-to-air television,” he said.

“It would be a huge mistake for another rugby competition to be put on subscription television, further limiting the exposure the sport gets, particularly to the next generation of potential rugby fans.

“If the Six Nations were to go to a subscription channel, politicians from all sides will inevitably be calling for the event to be A listed.

”Currently, the Six Nations holds B category status, which allows pay TV channels to hold the broadcast rights, as long as highlights are made available to free-to-air channels.